After a lot of rumors speculations and leaks heading our way, Google’s finally launched two Nexus devices this year for all types of users. While last year’s Nexus 6 was criticized for being too heavy on the pocket, and not taking into consideration the needs of long time, loyal users, this year Google’s eager to cater to everyone’s needs. The two devices are differentiated along several lines and by the early looks of things, the Nexus 6P will be catering to high end users, while the Nexus 5X will be for those with more modest needs. So which device is the one for you? Lets find out below.

Huawei Nexus 6P Vs The LG Nexus 5X – Which Is The Device For You?

This year’s Nexus launch by Google marks an important step for the company. After being integrated into a larger conglomerate of companies under the Alphabet brand, Google’s left with more space to take higher risks. Before the merger, the software giant’s actions were under closer investor and stakeholder scrutiny, and the launch of two Nexus smartphones this year shows some seriousness from Google towards hardware launches as well.

While not a single component on the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P is manufactured by Google, the devices come under the company’s brand name, and end up as a platform for Android Marshmallow’s debut. With Marshmallow, Google promises a whole new variety of features for users, including default biometric support, improved app permissions, all new power saving features and new features for a variety of built-in apps.

But while both the devices come under the Nexus brand name, they’re far from same in terms of features and specifications. After last year’s launch of the solo Nexus 6 was criticized as being overpriced when compared to previous Nexus devices, Google decided to make changes. They came in the form of a medium tier Nexus 5X and the top-tier Nexus 6P. They’re different in nearly every hardware aspect except camera performance, so lets take a look first at some hardware details.

Starting from the processor, the Nexus 6P chooses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810, which comes boasting eight cores and a frequency of 2.0 GHz. This is supplemented by 3GB of LPDDR4 memory and the Adreno 430 GPU. As 2015 ends, we’ve seen very few devices that have managed to fully contain the processor’s overheating issues, but on paper, Qualcomm’s top-tier processor is one of the top performing chips out there. This, coupled with the Adreno 430, should mark for some impressive performance when running all your favorite multimedia and gaming apps.

The Nexus 5X on the other hand comes with the Snapdragon 808 on board. The Snapdragon 808 is powered by six cores and comes with a top frequency of 1.8 GHz. LG launched the LG G4 earlier this year with the Snapdragon 808, and it manages to outperform the Snapdragon 810 in nearly every performance benchmarks, due to the latter’s infamous throttling.The Snapdragon 808 is also supplemented by 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, which should test Android Marshmallow’s performance efficiency to the max particularly under high performing apps.

In terms of SoC hierarchy, the Snapdragon 808 has become Qualcomm’s well executed Plan-B this year. We’ll found out soon enough whether v2.1 of the 810 manages to do any better on the 6P, so if you’re considering devices on a purely processor based level, it’d be best to wait until things become clear. Also, even though the Snapdragon 810 might be Qualcomm’s top SoC offering right now, it’ll soon become a thing of the past, with devices featuring the Snapdragon 820, and Samsung’s next Exynos expected to start making appearances in Q1 next year.

In terms of camera specifications, Google’s made very few distinctions between the two devices. With both the Nexus 6P and the Nexus 5X, you’ll be getting rear shooters capable of capturing up to 12MP photographs. Both of the devices also come with 4K video recording capability for the rear camera at 30fps. These, coupled with dual-flash on board should result in some very high quality images and video, even in low light scenarios. In fact, according to Google, the Nexus 6P is optimized for capturing more light but we’ll have to wait for some camera samples to reach that conclusion ourselves.

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For the front camera, if you’re big on selfies, the Nexus 6P should be the device of your choice. It comes with a 8MP front camera, f/2.4 aperture width and HD video recording at 30 fps. When compared to the Nexus 5X, the difference is quite obvious, as the latter comes with a 5MP shooter, a wider f/2.0 aperture and no HD video recording capability. Not only should the 6P take photographs with improved quality but they’ll be more sharper as well, but that’s to be expected, given the two different market segment’s Google’s chosen to target with the devices.

Coming towards physical features and display specifications, the Nexus 5X comes with a FHD (1080 x 1920), 5.2 inch screen that’s made of Gorilla Glass 3. FHD should prove to be sufficient to all those users who’re not big on movies and other content requiring more details, and if you’re looking for a more premium experience, the Nexus 6P comes with a much larger screen size of 5.7 inches at 2560 x 1440 resolution, that places it effectively in the phablet category. Screen resolutions also tend to have a greater effect on battery life, so with the 5X, you get 2700 mAh capacity, while the 6P comes with a much larger 3,450 battery.

And finally, in terms of overhaul design, the Nexus 6P is the better out of the two, coming with an all metal body. The Nexus 5X on the other hand comes with a polycarbonate coating, so any decisions here should be based around whether you prefer your Nexus device coming with a high end premium touch, or whether you’re good to go with other options as well.

Both the devices come with USB Type-C but the Nexus 6P comes with dual front facing speakers, which should make for some good audio/multimedia output. Cat. 6, NFC and fingerprint recognition is present on both the devices, so all options for mobile payments should be open. Given that Android Pay has started to become a larger part of Google’s portfolio, its no surprise the company chose to equip both of them with the features.

So what’s the price tag for both the devices. Well, the Nexus 5X comes with two storage variants, 16 and 32GB and they’ll end up costing you $379 and $429 respectively. The Nexus 6P on the other hand comes in three storage variations of 32, 64 and 128GB, which come with price tags of $499, $549 and $649 respectively. Oh and both the devices come with a $50 Google Play credit for US customers until October 25th.

As for our final verdict, Google’s made no efforts to hide the evident differences between the two, and this year’s Nexus launch by the company should serve for all categories of users. Those requiring stock Android with a premium design should be eager to lay their hands on the Nexus 6P, but shouldn’t be expecting their device to remain in the flagship category in hardware terms for long, given the upcoming processor and flagsship refresh cycle as mentioned above.

For those looking at the Nexus 5X, a more modestly priced device that’s well capable of performing everyday tasks and taking things to a higher level when required should be the motto on your mind. While the Snapdragon 808 does come paired with rather modest 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, the processor on the Nexus 5X has shown to be a top performing across various benchmark results. If you’re not that much interested into premium looking flagship smartphones, but would rather be satisfied with a good device experience, go for the Nexus 5X.

So that concludes our preliminary analysis of both the devices. Helpful? Looking to pre-order the Nexus 6P or the Nexus 5X yourself? Let us know what you think in the comments section below and stay tuned for the latest.